Dawley Town Hall

Great Dawley Town Council Dawley Town Hall New Street Dawley TELFORD TF4 2JR Tel: (01952) 567910 Fax: (01952) 567917 e-mail: [email protected]

Executive Committee held on 12th September 2016 at 18:30 at Dawley Town Hall.

PRESENT: Councillors: Davies, Dillon, Heighway, Pinter, Randle, Sekhon MBE and Turley. Staff: Clare Turner (Clerk), Carol Binnington (Committee Secretary), Simon Eccleston (Finance, Contracts and Procurement Officer)

There were no members of the public present. ______Exe16 Great Dawley Town Council Chair’s Welcome 120 The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting. Exe16 Apologies for absence and reasons. 121 Proposed by Cllr Turley, Seconded by Cllr Heighway RESOLVED that the Committee accept the apologies and reasons for absence from Councillors: Choudhary, Duce and Salter. Exe16 Code of Conduct and Register of Interests 122 Councillors were reminded that they should declare any pecuniary interest in matters to be discussed at the meeting, which is not included in the register of interests. No one declared an interest. Exe16 Public Session 123 The public session was opened and closed by the Chair. There were no members of the public present. Exe16 Minutes 124 The Committee reviewed the draft minutes of the meeting held on the 11th July 2016. Proposed by Councillor Pinter, Seconded by Councillor Turley RESOLVED that the Committee instruct the Chair to sign the minutes of the Executive Committee meeting held on the 11th July 2016 as a true record.

Exe16 Borough Councillors 125 Borough Councillor Pinter reported that she attended a Friends of Dawley Park music event in Dawley Park on Saturday, which is part of a new initiative, Upbeat Community Music for Dawley. This initiative is to get Dawley residents involved in music. Borough Councillor Pinter attended an awards event for pupils at Telford Langley School and has completed her usual ward walks. Borough Councillor Davies updated that he has been busy with his usual ward walks and case work. The New Place affordable housing scheme has now started and he is 1 dealing with enquiries from residents for additional car parking to be put in place in this area. The BMX event which was held at the Wrekin Riders BMX track located at the Langley School was very successful, with thousands of people attending from all over the country. Malinslee playing fields were used as a camp site and the event was well received by residents.

Following complaints about car parking problems in Malinslee, Borough Councillor Davies requested that the Town Council match fund £1000 each for himself and Borough Councillor Sahota from the Ward Councillors Pride Fund to paint white lines in the parking areas to address the parking problems and create more spaces.

Exe16 Grants 126 a) Voluntary Organisations. The Committee considered Grant Applications from the following voluntary organisation: -

S.T.A.B.L.E £204.98 To provide a pop up gazebo’s to help raise awareness into epilepsy and to support individuals suffering from epilepsy.

Proposed by Councillor Pinter. Seconded by Councillor Sekhon RESOLVED that the Committee agreed to grant £204.98 to S.T.A.B.L.E

Harshorne Court £250 To help support activities during health promotion week. Proposed by Councillor Sekhon, Seconded by Councillor Pinter RESOLVED that the Committee agreed to grant £250 to Hartshorne Court.

Let’s Get Together £250 To provide speakers and outings to local places of interest. Proposed by Councillor Pinter, Seconded by Councillor Heighway RESOLVED that the Committee agreed to £250 to be granted to Let’s get Together.

b) Partnership Fund The Town Council have had a number of requests that measures are put in place to combat speeding in the area. The Clerk requested that the Committee look at purchasing a SIDS sign, which is a moveable speed indicator sign that can be moved around the area. The sign can look at amount of traffic as well as number of cars speeding and could be put up by the PET team. We could then get Police teams down to deal with issues highlighted. The Committee were asked to consider purchasing two signs at cost of £2000 each, which could also be used when the Town Council are holding events. Proposed by Councillor Turley, Seconded by Councillor Randle RESOLVED that the Committee agreed for the Clerk to go ahead and purchase two SIDS signs and for the PET Team to be trained to install these. Councillor Randle raised concerns that he has had complaints from local pensioners who are having problems in King Street with cars speeding through the chicane with complete disregard for pedestrians, narrowly missing them on occasions. Councillor Davies updated that the Borough Council has previously completed a consultation regarding King Street having a SID located in this area and they had only received comments from 12 residents. c) Ward Councillors Pride Fund

. Borough Councillor Davies requested that the Town Council match fund £1000 each from his and Borough Councillor Sahota’s Ward Councillors Pride Fund to address parking problems in the Malinslee area

Proposed by Councillor Pinter, Seconded by Councillor Sekhon RESOLVED that the Committee agreed to match fund £1000 each of Councillor Davies and Councillor Sahota’s Ward Councillors Pride Fund to paint white lines in the parking areas to address the parking problems and create more spaces.

d) Shop Frontage Scheme The Clerk explained that although the Shop Frontage Scheme had officially come to an end, it was previously agreed that any requests that come forward could be considered using any remaining money from the scheme. Proposed by Councillor Pinter, Seconded by Councillor Heighway RESOLVED that the Committee agreed for Flower fair to be awarded £250 from the shop frontage scheme. e) Other Grant Information The Clerk reported that Wrekin Riders had held a very successful national event in Dawley during the first week of August and as part of the Town Councils 2016/17 budget it was agreed that Great Dawley Town Council would contribute £1000 to support the event. The event had provided very positive press about Dawley and the Wrekin Riders have provided invoices to show how the money was spent. Proposed by Councillor Randle, Seconded by Councillor Heighway RESOLVED that the Committee agreed to approve the payment of £1000 to Wrekin Riders for the national event held in August 2016. Exe 16 Finance Update 127 a) Cheque list for July 2016 Proposed by Councillor Turley, Seconded by Councillor Heighway RESOLVED that the Committee received and authorised the cheque list for cheque numbers 013980 – 014074 for July 2016. . b) The Committee is to receive and authorise AdvantEdge Report’s for July 2016 . Proposed by Councillor Dillon, Seconded by Councillor Pinter RESOLVED that the Committee received the AdvantEdge Reports and authorised the following financial Statements for July 2016:  Bank Account Reconciled Statement – Current Account  Reconciled report from AdvantEdge  Financial Budget Comparison

Exe 16 Finance Reports 0 128 The Finance, Contracts and Procurement Officer gave a report on the following items: 3 i) Report on the completed Mazar’s External Audit Proposed by Councillor Davies, Seconded by Councillor Pinter RESOLVED that the Committee formerly note the receipt of the completed External Auditors Certificate and that there are no further actions to be taken.

ii) Report on feedback from internal audit report

Recommendation Action put in place Date actioned

All minutes are to be signed All minutes are signed at Already in place meeting

VAT returns are cross Reports produced to evidence 15th July 2016 referenced to the software each VAT claim entries (1st VAT claim done since audit)

Precept needs to be Precept approved at council Agreed at council meeting 13th retrospectively approved meeting. June

Receipt books ae separated 2 separate receipt books easily 30th April 2016 between Dawley Town Hall & identifiable located in Great Dawley Town Council. reception.

Proposed by Councillor Davies, Seconded by Councillor Randle RESOLVED that the Committee formerly noted that the recommendations identified in the internal audit have now been actioned.

iii) Report on signatories for Bank of Scotland account The committee was asked:  To provide 3 councillors to be additional signatories on the bank account.  To authorise the clerk to arrange and sign paperwork for the 3 new signatories. Proposed by Councillor Randle, Seconded by Councillor Pinter RESOLVED that the Committee agreed for Councillors Davies, Duce, Randle and Heighway to be additional signatories on the bank account and to authorise the Clerk to complete the necessary paperwork.

iv) Report on Treasury Management Update At t At the council meeting in March 2016 the Treasury Management Plan was approved allowing the Clerk to move some of the reserves. On the 28th July 2016, the Clerk moved £150,000 into a 6 month fixed deposit account with Bank of Scotland. This was delayed due to the Bank of Scotland updating their systems. This fixed deposit will earn the Town Council £611-51 which will be receive in January 2017. For the year 2016/17 to have a fixed deposit account the Town Council will also have to set up a current account with the individual bank.

Proposed by Councillor Turley, Seconded by Councillor Randle RESOLVED that the Committee formerly acknowledge the update for the Treasury Management.

v) Report on GPC Card The Finance, Contracts and Procurement Officer asked the Committee to consider the Town Council applying for a Telford & Wrekin GPC Card due to officers experiencing difficulties when order goods online and some people/companies won’t accept cheques, in particularly Microsoft, who are the operating programme for the Town Council staff computers.

Proposed by Councillor Turley, Seconded by Councillor Randle

RESOLVED that the Committee agreed and approved the following conditions:  Approved the enrolment onto the Telford & Wrekin GPC Card scheme with the card being in the name of Simon Eccleston and the authoriser to be Clare Turner  Approved a single transaction limit of £2,000-00  Approve a monthly credit limit of £2,000-00  Approve that the card usage report is presented to Council on a monthly basis.

Exe 16 Great Dawley War Memorial 129 The Finance, Contracts and Procurement Officer reported that Great Dawley Town Council have now received all of the information needed to update the blank War Memorial located in Dawley House. There are 56 names that need to be added to the blank 1st World War memorial. In the budget for 2016/17 Great Dawley Town Council allocated £1,500-00 to place the names on the War Memorial. A local supplier has been sourced. Newport Engravers and the cost for this is £440-00. Proposed by Councillor Davies, Seconded by Councillor Randle RESOLVED that the Committee agreed for the following:  If eligible the submission of the grant application to the War Memorial Trust for £330.

 The Clerk to authorise Newport Engravers to complete the work as detailed above and get the War Memorial updated before Armistice Day in November 2016.

 For the remainder of the budget to be allocated for an investiture event to include the Royal British Legion. Exe 16 Procurement Reports 130 a) Report on purchase of secure storage for gardening equipment The Committee was asked for permission to purchase a secure storage shed for the Town Council’s gardening service equipment. Proposed by Councillor Turley, Seconded by Councillor Heighway RESOLVED that the Committee agreed for the clerk to have delegated authority to spend up to a maximum of £2000 on purchase and installation of a heavy duty secure storage shed. The Clerk recommending the Askard secure storage shed, which is heavy duty and police recommended for purchase and installation.

b) Solar Panel Christmas Trees The Committee was asked to authorise the clerk to approve the procurement of the solar lights from Plantscape at a cost of £1481. The payment to be made from the under spend of the hanging baskets budget.

5 Proposed by Councillor Randle, Seconded by Councillor Sekhon RESOLVED that the Committee agreed for the Clerk to purchase solar panel Christmas trees for Dawley High Streets. Councillor Randle said that Malinslee are always the poor relation to Dawley every year and that they have far better Christmas lights in Dawley. Councillor Davies pointed out that Malinslee have fireworks each year which doesn’t happen in Dawley and that he is negotiating some funding for a new Christmas tree in Malinslee, as t is difficult with Malinslee as they don’t have a High Street. The Town Council is looking at Malinslee having hanging baskets next year.

c) Report on Dawley House Gas and Electric The Committee were asked for permission for the Town Council to commit to a two year tariff with Npower for both Gas and Electricity for Dawley House, following a procurement exercise completed by the Finance, Procurement and Contracts Officer. There would be a savings of 4% by sticking with NPOWER for both Dawley House and Dawley Town Hall.

Proposed by Councillor Dillon, Seconded by Councillor Heighway RESOLVED that the Committee agreed for the Clerk to make the necessary arrangements to get the electric contract in place for Dawley House to be moved over to NPOWER to provide best value.

d) The Gardening Service The Committee were asked to acknowledge the update to the gardening budget as the original budget gave detail for a van at £300 per week, however, this offer was no longer available at the time of purchase so the Finance, Contracts and Procurement Officer completed another procurement exercise with Furrows being the best value, following the Finance, Contracts and Procurement Officer having visited 4 different contractors.

Proposed by Councillor Turley, Seconded by Councillor Heighway RESOLVED that the Committee acknowledged the updated Gardening Service budget for 2016 and agreed to the hire of a van from Furrows, with recommendation to review future options for the Service.

Exe 16 Play Equipment for Malinslee 1 131 An email from a resident in Malinslee was circulated to Councillors requesting play equipment nearer her home. The Clerk explained to the Committee that this wasn’t within the Town Council’s remit and she has spoken to the resident to explain how funding may be obtained from other organisations to purchase and install play equipment in the resident’s particular area. The Clerk contacted Telford & Wrekin Council who provided information on play areas available in the residents locality. Exe 16 Clerk Report 0 132 The Clerk updated the Committee on her monthly report which included the Dawley Community Fun Day which took place on Saturday 9th July. This year’s event was held on Dawley Football field and was attended by around 1,200 people. Tea dances have been held on the 13th July and the 17th August with the events being supported again with good numbers. The feedback from the tea dance was excellent and is being very well received by local residence and those attending the event.

The Gardeners have completed a further 2 complete cycles of the grass cuts for the gardening service. The Town Council are now receiving positive feedback from users. The Neighbourhood Officer has been working with the gardeners to update and send letters to service users for the annual hedge trim due to take place in October 2016.

The Clerk updated on staffing matters including the recruitment of the vacant post of Property and Community Manager with the Town Council (further update in Private Session). The Neighbourhood Officer has been completing Environmental Visual Audits (EVA’s) and has been using the Everyday App to log any issues directly with Telford & Wrekin. .

Mazars paperwork for the annual audit has been returned and there has been no further actions required as part of this annual audit.

The Administration Officer has been working to put all events in the local area on the Town Councils ‘What’s on’ page on the website. The Officer has also been working to inform our partners of this ‘What’s on Page’ and to encourage our partners and groups to make their event information available for the website.

Exe 16 Citizen’s Advice Bureau 1 133 A report was read by the Chair from the Citizens Advice Bureau Outreach Service which hold sessions in Dawley Christian Centre on a Friday morning which is funded by the Town Council. The report highlighted that 134 people from the area had accessed the outreach service in Q1 of 2016/2017. The Committee requested that further reports are forwarded to the Town Council on a half yearly basis to keep Councillors informed of the work being carried out by the service being funded by the Town Council. Exe16 Correspondence 134 An email was read out notifying the Committee that Telford & Wrekin Children & Family Locality Services would no longer be providing term-time play in the Dawley area. Exe16 Exclusion of Press and Public 135 Proposed by councillor To resolve: That under Section 100(A) Local Government Act 1972 , the press and public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the Acts.

Exe16 Staffing Update 136 The Clerk table a confidential report and verbally updated Councillors on Staffing.

Exe16 Update on Events 137 The Clerk tabled a confidential report on Events 2016 and verbally updated Council.

Exe16 Partnership Agreement 138 The Clerk tabled a confidential report on the Partnership Agreement and verbally

7 updated Council.

Exe16 Date of next meeting 139 Full Council Meeting on 10th October 2016 At Dawley Town Hall

Meeting closed at 7.40pm